Tandis que deux activistes de Sea Shepherd pris dans une tempête s'échouent en catastrophe dans le port de Torshavn, aux îles Féroé, le corps du chasseur Bent Hansen est retrouvé parmi les centaines de baleines massacrées lors d'un grindadrap. Dans l'archipel désormais coupé du monde, le capitaine Soren Barentsen est chargé de l'enquête. D'autres corps remontent bientôt à la surface. …

Expert psychiatre auprès de la Cour d'appel de Lyon, Adam Jacuri confie ses mémoires à Jessie Maure, auteure de thrillers avant de partir à la retraite en Bretagne, près de la forêt de Huelgoat. Des disparitions mystérieuses affolent la population locale. Adam suspecte un ancien patient et craint pour sa vie. La gendarmerie ne le croit pas. Il entreprend alors de mener sa propre enquête.
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One can say that operations research consists of t he application of sci ent i fi c methods to the complex problems encount ered in the management of large systems. These systems arise, for example, in indust ry , administration and defense. The goal i s t o aid management in the determi nation of policy vi a the use of t ractable models. A model can be defined as a schem at i c description of t he syst em under consideration (which may be a company, a market, a bat t le, or a t ransportati on network, for example) . To be useful , t he m odel must include a representation of the interaction bet ween the syst em elements. An example could be t he m odel of perfect gases. Perfect gases do not exi st , but the concept helps US t o understand the behavior of real gases . Si mi larly, the atomic model helps us to understand t he structure of material. One of t he non-tri vi al problems of opera­ tions research i s the choice of an appropri at e model . For example, sub-at omic particles help in t he underst anding of superconduct i vi t y, but they could result in an unnecessarily complex model for t he behavior of gases if we were in­ terested only in the relationship between volume, t emperature and pressure.

1. 1. Overview of Numerical Quadrature The numerical evaluation of integrals is one of the oldest problems in mathematics. One can trace its roots back at least to Archimedes. The task is to compute the value of the definite integral of a given function. This is the area under a curve in one dimension or a volume in several dimensions. In addition to being a problem of great practi­ cal interest it has also lead to the development of mathematics of much beauty and insight. Many portions of approximation theory are directly applicable to integration and results from areas as diverse as orthogo­ nal polynomials, Fourier series and number theory have had important implications for the evaluation of integrals. We denote the problem addressed here as numerical integration or numerical quadrature. Over the years analysts and engineers have contributed to a growing body of theorems, algorithms and lately, programs, for the solution of this specific problem. Much effort has been devoted to techniques for the analytic evalua­ tion of integrals. However, most routine integrals in practical scien­ tific work are incapable of being evaluated in closed form. Even if an expression can be derived for the value of an integral, often this reveals itself only after inordinate amounts of error prone algebraic manipulation. Recently some computer procedures have been developed which can perform analytic integration when it is possible.

In the Preface the importance of statistical inves tigations of mechanical systems has been indicated. It has been mentioned that for some problems the statistical investigation is the most adequate means, for others it is an auxiliary one supplementing the deterministic methods of investigation.

The 11th Colloquium on Metallurgical Analysis - a joint venture of the Institute of Analytical Chemistry of the Technical University in Vienna, the Austrian Society for Analytical Chemistry and Microchemistry, the German Metals Society (DGM), and the Society of German Iron and Steel Engineers (VDEh) - was attended by 120 scientists from 12 nations. The major topics covered were surface, micro and trace analysis of materials with a heavy emphasis on metals. According to the strategy of the meeting attention was focussed on an interdisciplinary approach to materials science - combining analytical chemistry, solid state physics and tech­ nology. Therefore progress reports on analytical techniques (like SIMS, SNMS, Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy, AES, XPS) were given as well as pre­ sentations on the development of materials (like for the fusion reactor). The majority of the discussion papers centered on the treatment of important technical problems in materials science and technology by a (mostly sophis­ ticated) combination of physical and chemical analytical techniques. The intensive exchange of ideas and results between the scientists oriented towards basic research and the industrial materials technologists was very fruitful and resulted in the establishment of several scientific cooperations. Major trends in materials analysis were also dealt with in a plenary discussion of which a short summary is contained in this volume. In order to facilitate international communication in the field of materials analysis and in view of the important questions treated in the various contri­ butions this proceedings volume was edited in English.